This invention generally relates to a performance enhancing and force absorbing composite mouthguard for use by athletes, and more particularly to such an adjustable customizable tethered mouthguard appliance that spaces apart the teeth to absorb shock and clenching stress to protect the anterior and posterior teeth of the upper jaw, to lessen condyle pressure, force and impact upon the cartlidge and temporomandibular joints, the arteries and the nerves and to further increase body muscular strength and endurance.
A number of mouthguards currently exist in the art for protecting the teeth and for reducing the chance of shock, concussions and other injuries as a result of high impact collisions and blows during athletic competition. Mouthguards generally are characterized as being non-personalized, universal and stock model type, or are formed to have direct upper jaw tooth-formed contact. These are customizable mouthguards.
Additionally, the mouthguards may be tethered or untethered. Mouthguards may be tethered to a fastening point, such as a helmet or face guard, to prevent the chance of the mouthguard from being lost as well as to prevent swallowing of the mouthguard or choking on the mouthguard by the user. However, tethers should be releasable in case the helmet is dislodged from the head to avoid further injury. Most tethers are cumbersome and are a visual obstruction in front of the face of the wearer.
The lack of a mouthguard or the use of an improperly fitted mouthguard, when impacts, collisions or blows occur to the jaw structure of an athlete, have recently been found to be responsible for illnesses or injuries. Such injured athletes are susceptible to headaches, presence of earaches, ringing in the ears, clogged ears, vertigo, concussions and dizziness. The cause of these types of health problems and injuries are generally not visible by inspection of the mouth or the jaw but more particularly relate to the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) and surrounded tissues where the lower jaw is connected to the skull in the proximity where the auriculotemporalis nerves and supra-temporo arteries pass from the neck into the skull to the brain.
In addition to protection of the teeth and the TMJ, athletes clench their teeth during exertion which results in hundreds of pounds of compressed force exerted from the lower jaw onto the upper jaw. Such clenching can result in headaches, muscle spasms, damage to teeth, injury to the TMJ and pain in the jaw. Furthermore, clenching of the teeth makes breathing more difficult during physical exercise and endurance when breathing is most important.
Most importantly, many problems exist with prior mouthguards. Mouthguards with rigid labial or buccal walls do accept wide teeth, were bulky and had sharp edges. When the custom appliances were placed in hot water to soften for fitting, the mouthguards tended to collapse and permit portions to touch and stick together upon removal from the hot water thus making fitting of such mouthguards always a problem. Delamination and chewing destruction caused short life of the mouthguards.
There is a need for a mouthguard that solves all of the problems disclosed and will further achieve improved performance and long life as well as being easy to fit and wear for the athlete.